An implantable medical device (IMD) such as an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) may be used to deliver shock therapy to a patient's heart in order to perform therapies such as defibrillation and cardioversion. Some ICDs may also provide several different pacing therapies, including such therapies as cardiac resynchronization, depending upon the needs of the user or patient and the medical condition of the patient's heart. For convenience, all types of implantable medical devices will be referred to herein as IMDs, it being understood that the term, unless otherwise indicated, is inclusive of an implantable device capable of administering a cardiac therapy.
In IMDs that deliver defibrillation or cardioversion therapies, it is necessary to develop high voltages, perhaps 750 volts or more, within the IMD in order to administer a sufficient shock to a patient to correct an arrhythmia or a fibrillation, particularly a ventricular fibrillation. To generate such high voltages, a battery and capacitors (usually two) may be used. Preferably, the capacitors are fully charged before defibrillation or cardioversion therapies are delivered. In some configurations, flyback and non-flyback transformers are employed to incrementally charge the defibrillation capacitors prior to therapy delivery. Once the capacitors are charged, the defibrillation or cardioversion therapy is delivered via insulated gate bipolar transistors or other suitable semiconductor switches that are switched on and off to apply charge stored in the capacitors in biphasic pulse waveform to the heart.
Because IMDs are implanted subcutaneously, it is preferable that the IMD is sized as small as possible to reduce any discomfort that the patient may experience post-implantation. Conventionally, however, some of the electronic components that are housed within the IMD are relatively large. For example, transformers are used which have coil and core members that are physically separate from other IMD components. Although these conventional transformers have been reliable, they occupy a considerable amount of space within the IMD.
Accordingly, it remains desirable to provide a method and apparatus for decreasing the size of a transformer for use in an implantable medical device, while maintaining its reliability.